Late
by perpetualpathology
Summary: With the stress of being 5 days late, Sam is not in a good mood and everyone around her is subjected to her anger. Will she accept that Tom will be there for her no matter what the result of the test - that she is refusing to take - is?
1. Chapter 1

Five days. Five long, dreadful days that Sam had been going out of her mind with worry as she frequently went to the toilet to check if she had begun her period but, no she had had such luck. When she was a young teenager she was grateful to be late because that meant that she didn't have to endure almost a full week of regular loo breaks to check if she was leaking or immense pain in her lower abdomen. But now she was a young adult. A sexually active adult, at that, and that meant that being late was no longer welcomed, it was a cause for concern.

Of course, she hadn't told her husband of her worry; why should she? It's her body, her reproductive system and her responsibility. But she was just feeling so volatile because of the situation she was in. She hadn't taken a test, for she was sure she would begin bleeding soon. But nerves were setting in because she was not just a day or two late, she was five days late.

"You haven't had breakfast." Tom pointed out as his wife pulled on her coat to leave for work. They often left at different times in the evening depending on where he they got let off early or stuck behind with a particular case so they both went to work their separate ways too.

"Aren't you clever?" Sam muttered to herself so that he did not hear as she put her phone in her pocket.

"Do you want me to make you some toast quickly?" He offered.

"Don't you think if I'd have wanted toast I would've made it myself?" Sam snapped abruptly.

"What's wrong with you?" Tom demanded in an elevated tone. "You've been grouchy with me all morning and I'd rather like to know what it is that I've supposedly done to upset you."

"You haven't done anything." Sam grumbled as she put her hand on the front door handle.

"Well what's up then?" Tom asked softly as he knew that getting angry with her wasn't going to help anything.

"You really wanna know? Sam barked.

"There you go again with the snapping. Of course I wanna know, if I didn't I wouldn't have asked."

"Fine. If I'm really bothering you that much then I'll go somewhere else." Sam muttered as she opened the front door and then slammed it behind her before she stormed off on her walk to work - she had decided against driving so that she could leave their apartment earlier and then waste more time in the evening if she had not come on so that she didn't have to hide from her own husband.

* * *

Tom was standing by the nurses' station in the middle of cubicles as he watched his wife deal with a patient from afar when he was joined by Adrian Fletcher.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah um, has Sam spoken to you recently?" Tom questioned.

"About anything in particular?" Fletch queried.

"No I was just wondering what's wrong with her... She's been moody with me ever since she woke up this morning. In fact she was pretty grumpy yesterday and the day before too."

"Maybe she's on her period and she's in pain." Fletch suggested as he had covered for Sam on more than one occasion when she had either snapped at a patient or had to run to pharmacy for painkillers in the few years that they had worked together.

"No, she would've told me if it was something like that." Tom replied.

"PMS?" Fletch suggested humorously.

"Maybe." Tom shrugged. "Right, I'd better get on. But let me know if she says anything to you yeah?"

"Will do mate." Fletch nodded before he sat down on a spinning chair by the computer in front of him and then discreetly watched his best friend get on with her work as he wanted to crack the mystery as to what was wrong with Sam Kent.

* * *

There was an unwritten rule that every Wednesday, Sam and Tom would meet up in the hospital cafe to have lunch together. And they had been doing it for so long that one of them could walk up to the till and ask the lady, who served hundreds of people every week, for the 'usual' and she would bring them over two BLT sandwiches on brown bread, with a green tea for Sam, a bottle of dandelion and burdock for Tom and a slice of Chocolate sponge cake with two spoons so that they could share it.

However, Tom had had to order alone and then sit in the back booth with lunch for two as he waited for his wife, though he doubted whether she was actually gonna come considering the foul mood that she was in. And after waiting for ten minutes, he was just about to leave when the door opened and Sam swiftly entered and then sat opposite him rather than next to him.

"You're late." Tom announced with no intent of anger because he knew how heavy their workload could be and he was slightly relieved that she had turned up.

"In more ways than one." Sam muttered but it came out rather loudly and her eyes flew open in regret once she'd realised that her husband had heard her.

"What d'ya mean?" Tom asked before it clicked in his mind. "What? You mean you're _late_ late?" Tom questioned. "How late?" He asked eagerly.

"Five days." Sam mumbled as she played with the spoon in her green tea that was no longer steaming, but still very warm.

"Well why don't you go and do a test?"

"Because maybe I don't want to." Sam snapped.

"I can come with you." Tom offered as he realised that she had only been being defensive the past few days because she was quite clearly very scared and vulnerable, but only he as he husband had worked that out. Not even she herself knew that she was scared.

"What part of 'I don't want to' didn't make sense to you?"

"Sam I- I'm trying here I don't know what you want me to do or say but you're being really unfair to me at the moment and I don't like it." Tom tried to reason with her.

"Well I don't like the situation that I'm in either but that's life Tom, you don't always get what you want."

"What so you don't want kids? I thought you said you did-"

"Not now." Sam interrupted.

"Now now? Sam you're 28 and I'm 30, we've both got stable jobs I don't see why you- great, so you're just gonna storm off like a child are you?" Tom interrupted himself mid sentence as Sam got up and began to walk away. Once again, she hadn't eaten and he didn't doubt that after skipping breakfast, she probably hadn't eaten anything the entire day. He sighed to himself as he looked at the food before him that remained untouched as he had been waiting for his wife. On a good day, he would quite easily finish off the whole lot himself and not gain an ounce however it wasn't a good day - it was far from it - so he ate half a sandwich to get him through the day, put his drink in his pocket and then he made the short journey to pharmacy where he was met with a young lady at the window.

They sold over the counter medication, as well as filled prescriptions and gave out basic pharmaceuticals like birth control but he was stumped when he peered through the glass to see up to a dozen different types of pregnancy tests, ranging from a few pounds to almost ten pounds.

"How can I help you?" The woman smiled.

"Um... I need a pregnancy test- I mean, _I_ don't need one but I need to get one for someone." Tom stuttered.

"Let me guess, you don't have a clue where to start?" The woman queried.

"Not really no."

"Well to be honest cheaper doesn't necessarily mean less accurate but it depends if you want to know roughly how many weeks since conception." She replied. "This one is over 99% accurate one day after the woman's period is due, it'll tell you positive or negative and then how many weeks if it's positive, and it's got two tests in one box so you can be sure." She stated as she picked up a Clearblue pregnancy testing kit.

"Er, I'll take that then." Tom stated as he took his wallet out of his pocket.

"That's £8.99." She stated as she put the box in a white and green pharmacy bag, though she was slightly shocked when the man who she knew to be a doctor because of his scrubs, placed a ten pound note on the side, grabbed the bag and then quickly disappeared. He hid it under his top as he entered the, thankfully, empty staffroom, grabbed a post-it note and then wrote:

'_Just take it when you're ready, and I'm here for you. Tom x_'

He then used a trick he'd learnt to open Sam's locker without her key, and then put the test and note in there before he locked it up and proceeded to get on with his job as he awaited the result of one test that could change his whole future.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! I am beginning to plan out my story Double Bubble but this two-shot idea came into my head and wouldn't leave me alone so I had to write it! Pretty please could you leave me a review? XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you very much for the reviews for the first chapter :) To the guest reviewer who gave me constructive criticism, thanks and I understand what you mean. I think I've just been writing too much tam recently so I get stuck on ideas sometimes but after this fic, I'm gonna focus on Holby for a while. Hopefully when I return to casualty fics I'll explore some new genres and ideas.**

* * *

"Max, I need my patient to be taken to CT now." Sam ordered.

"No Sam, my patient is more critical so we're taking him up now." Zoe interrupted and so the porter turned to Zoe's bed with an unconscious and intubated patient lying on it.

"But mine may have an aneurysm on the brain that could rupture at any moment." Sam protested. "I need to get a scan to get a better look and if I'm right then he needs an emergency theatre slot."

"Sorry Sam but I'm taking priority for this one."

"You're not clinical lead anymore Zoe." Sam argued.

"No but I am still a consultant so you need to watch your tone with me." Zoe warned. Out of anger, Sam then threw her patient's file onto the nurses' station without watching where it landed before she stormed off leaving a very confused Zoe. "Just take him up, they'll know what to do with him." Zoe said to Max who began wheeling the bed away and then she walked over to the staffroom where she found Sam sitting at the breakfast bar with her head resting on the surface in front of her and she looked like she was about to rip her own hair out. "Sam, what the hell was that about?" Zoe demanded.

"You shouldn't have undermined me in front of my patient." Sam argued exhaustedly as she raised her head.

"I'm deputy clinical lead Sam, and a consultant. Besides, I- are you crying?" Zoe asked as she noticed the young doctor's eye glisten in the artificial lights.

"Of course I'm bloody not." Sam snapped.

"Sam, what's going on with you? You're shouting one minute and then emotional the next. I don't mean to spoil any surprises but if you're pregnant you can't continue to be like this for the next nine-"

"I'm not pregnant!" Sam protested with far more confidence than she truly had but she froze when her husband walked into the room.

"Zoe can you give us a minute?" Tom requested.

"Sure." Zoe replied exasperatedly as she certainly wasn't getting anywhere with Sam so she slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"Have you done a test then?" Tom asked as his wife had seemed rather adamant that she wasn't carrying his baby.

"No... Just leave me alone." Sam ordered quietly as she slipped off of the chair and then she went to the only place she would be able to hear herself think.

* * *

Sam was in deep thought as she looked over Holby City from the roof of the hospital, leaning on the railing as she watched people below her getting on with their lives which was what she wished she could do. But suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted.

"Care to tell me why Tom is downstairs seething and ranting about something but he won't tell me what?" Fletch asked as he hoped that his best friend would talk to him if she wasnt going to talk to her husband.

"Not you too." Sam grumbled.

"What?" Fletch protested innocently.

"Just stop asking questions alright? I came up here to be by myself or was that not obvious?"

"Ah, now I see what he means about the snappiness." Fletch concluded.

"What did he tell you?" Sam demanded.

"Nothing. Just that you're a bit moody and he only told me because he's worried about you and he thought you might've said something to me. So c'mon, why are you being like this? Is it your special time of month?" Fletch asked mockingly in a way that only the best of friends would joke. Sam just rolled her eyes in reply. "It is isn't it?" He smirked.

"I wish it was." Sam mumbled slowly.

"What? You mean you're... Have you done a test?" He asked as he put his arms around her shoulders.

"No. First Tom and now you. Can you please just not bug me about doing a bloody-"

"Alright, I only asked. I thought maybe you'd already done one but obviously not. Just a warning though, and I'm going to make a quick exit after this comment for fear of getting my balls kicked in, you are being really irritable and moody, and not very nice to be around at the moment." Fletch stated before he quickly walked back over to the door and made his way back down to the ground floor of the hospital where he worked.

* * *

**5:30pm**

After a very, very long day at work Sam had just gotten changed in the toilets and returned to the locker room to get her bag when she found a note and a pharmacy bag on top of her things.

'_Just take it when you're ready, and I'm here for you. Tom x_'

Sam rolled her eyes as she shoved the box in her handbag, put her yellow stethoscope into her locker and then slammed it shut though she revealed that her husband had been standing right next to her.

"I'm sorry, if I seemed like I was rushing you to take a test because I wasn't." Tom began slowly. "It just came as a shock, but just... Take the test in your own time, when you're ready. But for now, how about I give you a lift home and we get a takeaway because I'm starving and I had breakfast and half of my lunch whereas you've had nothing so you must be hungry too." Tom suggested.

* * *

After having dinner, which even Sam couldn't refuse because of her temporary fasting during the day, she had gone and hidden in their bedroom whilst Tom watched the Sky Sports News channel when he suddenly heard the bedroom door creak open, and his heart skipped a beat as he wondered if she had done the pregnancy test and that his life was about to be changed forever. But he became baffled when Sam placed the unopened box containing the two tests in his lap and then she sat on the other side of the two seater sofa, as far away from him as she possibly could.

"I don't understand." He stated confusedly after checking that both ends of the box were sealed.

"I don't need it anymore." Sam murmured.

"What?"

"Let's just say I know why I've been snappy these past few days." Sam admitted as she avoided eye contact with him.

"What? A seriously bad case of PMS?" Tom questioned and Sam reluctantly gave a small nod in reply. "And you've come on just now?" He asked and Sam nodded once more. "Come here." Tom shuffled along the sofa and then put his arm around her so that her head rested on his shoulder as he placed his other hand on her thigh. "Are you in any pain?" He asked softly.

"Yep." Sam replied bluntly. "And I deserve it." She added quietly.

"No you don't, no one deserves to be in pain." Tom protested kindly. "You've just had a bad day and been a bit moody, no harm done."

"But you've had to put up with me all day, and I've been cruel to you, and Fletch. And I was out of order to Zoe."

"Ah but you see, earlier you were going through a a snappy phase, and _now_ you're going all weepy and I love it when you're like this." Tom grinned as he rested his head on the side of hers.

"I'm not weepy. I just... Ugh, I don't even know what I am to be honest." Sam sighed. "What I said about not having kids yet... I didn't mean that we'd have to wait years for it, I just meant that... Well I want to plan it, and know what's happening and control when it happens not just by accident."

"Well why didn't you say that earlier?" Tom asked softly.

"Because I was too stubborn and stroppy." Sam shrugged and Tom smiled before he remembered something.

"I've got a secret stash of chocolate on top of the kitchen cupboards. And it's your favourite; Dairy Milk chocolate with Oreos and cream inside. We could get our pjs on, cuddle under a blanket and watch a film or something whilst we stuff our faces."

"That sounds like something a teenage girl would do with her boyfriend." Sam pointed out.

"Well what _do_ you want to do then?" Tom asked.

"I didn't say I _didn't_ want to do it." Sam quipped. "And if you ever hide chocolate from me again, you'll be in trouble." She added playfully before she got up to go and get changed so that they could snuggle up for the evening.

* * *

**The End. **

**Thanks for reading, please review :) I can't believe I'm starting college next week! I'm dreading it!**


End file.
